While Senator Franken may, in fact, be truly sorry for his actions - from an emotional intelligence perspective, a written apology will never begin to have the level of sincerity and impact that an in-person apology would.

No one believes or wants to hear an apology written by anyone - particularly something that sounds like it was written by an attorney. Sincere apologies are spoken from the heart - not read from a script.

From a crisis management, public relations, and political point of view - an in-person apology, provided it is sincere, is also, with rare exception, the best course of action. In fact, it would be wisest for Senator Franken to apologize first to Ms. Tweeden in-person - and then to his electorate on camera.

The images shown above were not taken during this apology - but they do show Senator Franken with a facial expression which is extremely common
during public apologies.

His jaw is clenched - indicating an adrenaline surge. His lips are rolled inward (an Inward Lip Roll aka ILR) - demonstrating an attempt at suppressing strong emotions. The corners of his mouth are pulled laterally and down - and the tissue around his lips is "bunched up". Along with his downward gaze, this facial expression cluster is classic primarily for that of Strong Regret - and secondarily for Frustration.

This Bitter-Regret + Frustration expression is often referred to as a Mea Culpa Face.

Intriguingly, when in private, the same individuals tend to display facial expressions with increased elements of sadness, shame, and empathy.

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This website serves as a reference source for the art and science of Body Language/Nonverbal Communication. The views and opinions expressed on this website are those of the author. In an effort to be both practical and academic, many examples from/of varied cultures, politicians, professional athletes, legal cases, public figures, etc., are cited in order to teach and illustrate both the interpretation of others’ body language as well as the projection of one’s own nonverbal skills in many different contexts – not to advance any political, religious or other agenda.

This website serves as a reference source for the art and science of Body Language/Nonverbal Communication. The views and opinions expressed on this website are those of the author. In an effort to be both practical and academic, many examples from/of varied cultures, politicians, professional athletes, legal cases, public figures, etc., are cited in order to teach and illustrate both the interpretation of others’ body language as well as the projection of one’s own nonverbal skills in many different contexts – not to advance any political, religious or other agenda.